Food industry is a branch of light industry, a set of production of food products in finished form or in the form of semi-finished products.

In the agro-industrial complex, the food industry is closely linked with agriculture as a supplier of raw materials and with trade. Some branches of the food industry gravitate towards raw material areas, others - towards consumption areas.

The meat industry is a branch of the food industry that processes livestock. Industrial enterprises harvest and slaughter livestock, poultry, and rabbits and produce meat, sausages, canned meat, semi-finished products, cutlets, dumplings, and culinary products.
It ranks first in its specific gravity. Along with food production, dry animal feed is produced, as well as glues, gelatin and feather products. On the basis of developed livestock farming, an extensive network of enterprises in the meat and dairy industries has been created. The largest enterprises in this industry - now there are more than 40 meat processing plants. Semipalatinsk, Petropavlovsk, Alma-Ata, Ural meat processing plants. Semipalatinsk especially stands out for its size. It produces over 100 types of finished products and semi-finished products. To reduce the radius of livestock delivery, meat processing plants and sheep slaughterhouses are located evenly in all regions of the republic. In its best years in terms of production volumes, 1998-2002, Kazakhstan produced and processed up to 43 kg. meat and offal per inhabitant, produced up to 160 thousand tons of sausages per year (9 kg per inhabitant).

Mainly in areas where cattle are raised, numerous dairy and butter-cheese factories are located. Especially a lot of dairy products are produced in the Kustanai, North Kazakhstan, East Kazakhstan, and Karaganda regions.

The second place in terms of the number of products produced is occupied by the baking industry. There are enterprises in almost every locality. An example of products that are placed only on the basis of consumption.
Enterprises of the flour and cereal industry are located mainly in cities located in areas where grain crops are cultivated: Kostanay, Astana, Semipalatinsk, Almaty, etc.

The sugar industry is developed in the south of Kazakhstan, in the beet growing areas - Zhamyl and Almaty regions.

Among other branches of the food industry in Kazakhstan, fisheries (in the northern Caspian Sea), confectionery, fruit canning, and winemaking are developed.

A large fish canning plant operates in Atyrau. On a smaller scale, fishing and the fishing industry are developed on lakes Balkhash and Zaysan.